Nearer My God to Thee
Cradled in Sorrow and National Tragedy
The hymn “Nearer My God to Thee” was cradled in personal sorrow and had its maturing in an unusual history of both personal and national tragedy. The words express the heart’s deep yearning, especially in times of trial and trouble, to be drawn nearer to God.
This hymn has come to be invariably associated with the ill-fated luxury ocean liner, the Titanic, which in 1912 struck an iceberg some sixteen-hundred miles from New York City on its maiden voyage from England. As the few lifeboats pulled away carrying the six hundred passengers who were saved, all hope was lost for those left on deck.
In the final moments as the ship slowly sank beneath the icy waters of the Atlantic, sending fifteen hundred helpless souls into eternity, survivors heard the ship’s band playing the hymn’s strain with passengers on board singing the words of one who had written them for her own comfort.
Sarah Flower Adams, author of the hymn, was born in England in 1805. Her mother died when she was only five. Her dream was to be an actress, and she began a successful career on the London stage, starring as Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. But ill health forced her to give up her acting career, and she turned her talents to writing. Her health grew more and more fragile and she died at forty-three years of age.